Kingsmeade Cheese

Kingsmeade Cheese, owned by Miles and Janet King and operating since 1998, is sited on 28 acres 5 minutes from Masterton, Wairarapa. Kingsmeade was developed from an idea when the genetics of milking sheep arrived in New Zealand in 1994. It took some years to refine and develop the temperament and conformation required to produce the ideal milking sheep.

A small cheese factory followed during which time Miles, with a little assistance from a Cheesemaking friend and Massey University taught himself to make sheep cheese. Experiments that didn’t quite meet the mark were given to the local pig farmer and many pigs developed a passion for sheep cheese as well as the whey. Some of the first successful Kingsmeade cheeses were Mt Bruce Havarti, Wairarapa Jack and Castlepoint Feta, all of which we still produce today.

In hindsight, we were ahead of our time as the general public were not really in to trying new things. However, persistence, hard work and delicious cheese have paid off, along with the introduction of some cow’s milk cheeses to complement the range. Our Ngawi Brie and Sunset Blue are now very well known.